April Jones: People of Ceinws should decide what to do with the site of killer's demolished home

Former mayor Gareth Jones says erecting monument on the site of Mark Bridger's house would contradict decision to demolish it

Mount Pleasant the home of Mark Bridger at village of Ceinws, near Machynlleth

Placing any sort of monument at the site where five-year-old April Jones is assumed to have been murdered will not help Machynlleth to “move on” according to the town’s former mayor.

The notorious country cottage belonging to child killer Mark Bridger was bought by the Welsh Government earlier this month so it can be demolished.

The detached holiday cottage in the village of Ceinws is seen as a constant grim reminder of the brutal murder of April two years ago.

Now councillor Gareth Jones, who was mayor of Machynlleth when April went missing and stood down two days before Mark Bridger was handed a whole life sentence for her murder believes the site should be left alone.

He said: “There is very little point in removing the house if it is regarded as a permanent reminder of that dreadful time, if it were then to be replaced by something else which would have the same consequence.”

Bridger, 48, abducted April as she played with friends near her home in on the Bryn-y-Gog estate in Machynlleth on October 1 2012.

Police believe Bridger dismembered the schoolgirl’s body at the Ceinws property and went on to dump body parts at various locations.

The former Machynlleth mayor said he “would not interfere” with the process of deciding what is done with the land now.

But said it is time for people to “step back.”

Gareth Jones said: “The subject of the house in Ceinws has arisen constantly in the media over the last few months and I have refused to comment publicly on it because although I saw the merit of demolishing the house I could not see the benefit of playing this out in the full glare of national publicity.

“To my mind that was completely counter-productive, the same result could and would have been achieved without the media’s glare upon us.

“In my opinion that publicity did not assist anybody in moving on.

“Now comes the time for every Machynlleth resident and those from further afield, without any exception, to take a few steps back.

“We have achieved our goal, the house will be removed and we must now give the residents of Ceinws, and them alone, the right and indeed the deserved respect which they have gained from us all, to determine for themselves what should happen to their village when the house has gone.”

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